diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 3d8aa2bc..9a907078 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@
 
 ## Unreleased
 
+### Fixed
+- Captured parallel output no longer waits for an inactive spinner's sleep child to close its pipes (#1368)
+
 ## [0.51.0](https://github.com/TypedDevs/bashunit/compare/0.50.1...0.51.0) - 2026-09-18
 
 ### Changed
diff --git a/src/runner/discovery.sh b/src/runner/discovery.sh
index 5ce200fd..2020a603 100644
--- a/src/runner/discovery.sh
+++ b/src/runner/discovery.sh
@@ -287,22 +287,17 @@ function bashunit::runner::load_test_files() {
   # "No tests found" into what must be a clean list of ids (#1007).
   if bashunit::parallel::is_enabled && ! bashunit::env::is_list_enabled; then
     wait
-    bashunit::runner::spinner &
-    local spinner_pid=$!
-    bashunit::state::aggregate_parallel_results "$TEMP_DIR_PARALLEL_TEST_SUITE"
-    # Kill the spinner once the aggregation finishes
-    disown "$spinner_pid" 2>/dev/null || true
-    kill "$spinner_pid" 2>/dev/null || true
-    # Clear the spinner output, but only where it was drawn. The spinner draws
-    # nothing when stdout is not a terminal, under --no-progress, or under a
-    # machine --output format; erasing regardless emitted a literal "\r  \r"
-    # into every piped run, which is every CI log -- and under a machine format
-    # those bytes landed in front of the report, where an XML declaration must
-    # start the document. The conditions have to match the ones the spinner
-    # itself checks, or the two drift apart again.
+    local spinner_pid=""
     if [ -t 1 ] &&
       ! bashunit::env::is_no_progress_enabled &&
       ! bashunit::env::is_machine_output_enabled; then
+      bashunit::runner::spinner &
+      spinner_pid=$!
+    fi
+    bashunit::state::aggregate_parallel_results "$TEMP_DIR_PARALLEL_TEST_SUITE"
+    if [ -n "$spinner_pid" ]; then
+      disown "$spinner_pid" 2>/dev/null || true
+      kill "$spinner_pid" 2>/dev/null || true
       printf "\r  \r"
     fi
 
diff --git a/src/runner/parallel.sh b/src/runner/parallel.sh
index 149af487..5575f0fd 100644
--- a/src/runner/parallel.sh
+++ b/src/runner/parallel.sh
@@ -65,17 +65,7 @@ function bashunit::runner::wait_for_job_slot() {
 }
 
 function bashunit::runner::spinner() {
-  # Only show spinner when output is to a terminal
-  if [ ! -t 1 ]; then
-    # Not a terminal, just wait silently
-    while true; do sleep 1; done
-    return
-  fi
-
-  # Don't show spinner in no-progress mode, nor when stdout carries a machine
-  # format the frames would corrupt.
-  if bashunit::env::is_no_progress_enabled || bashunit::env::is_machine_output_enabled; then
-    while true; do sleep 1; done
+  if [ ! -t 1 ] || bashunit::env::is_no_progress_enabled || bashunit::env::is_machine_output_enabled; then
     return
   fi
 
diff --git a/tests/acceptance/bashunit_run_forks_test.sh b/tests/acceptance/bashunit_run_forks_test.sh
index 8d9c2db2..67d7fc2b 100644
--- a/tests/acceptance/bashunit_run_forks_test.sh
+++ b/tests/acceptance/bashunit_run_forks_test.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,51 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 set -euo pipefail
 
+function test_parallel_runs_do_not_start_a_spinner_without_visible_progress() {
+  local dir
+  dir="$(bashunit::temp_dir)"
+  local fixture="$dir/inactive_spinner_test.sh"
+  printf 'function test_without_spinner() { assert_same 1 1; }\n' >"$fixture"
+
+  local bootstrap="$dir/bootstrap.sh"
+  cat >"$bootstrap" <<'BOOTSTRAP'
+function bashunit::runner::spinner() {
+  printf 'started\n' >"$BASHUNIT_SPINNER_MARKER"
+}
+# Bash 3.0 cannot target names containing :: with declare -f.
+definition=$(declare -f | awk '
+  /^bashunit::state::aggregate_parallel_results \(\)/ { copy = 1 }
+  copy { print }
+  copy && /^}$/ { copy = 0 }
+')
+definition=${definition/bashunit::state::aggregate_parallel_results/bashunit_probe_aggregate}
+eval "$definition"
+function bashunit::state::aggregate_parallel_results() {
+  wait
+  bashunit_probe_aggregate "$@"
+}
+BOOTSTRAP
+
+  local mode output marker
+  local flags
+  for mode in normal no_progress json; do
+    flags=()
+    case "$mode" in
+    no_progress) flags=(--no-progress) ;;
+    json) flags=(--output json) ;;
+    esac
+    marker="$dir/$mode"
+    output=$(BASHUNIT_BOOTSTRAP="$bootstrap" BASHUNIT_SPINNER_MARKER="$marker" \
+      ./bashunit --parallel --simple --skip-env-file ${flags+"${flags[@]}"} "$fixture" 2>&1)
+    assert_successful_code "$?"
+    assert_file_not_exists "$marker"
+    case "$mode" in
+    json) assert_contains '"passed": 1' "$output" ;;
+    *) assert_contains '1 passed' "$output" ;;
+    esac
+  done
+}
+
 # Regression guard for the per-file run path. Running a test file used to fork
 # `grep` twice: once in the runner to scan sourcing stderr for "syntax error"/
 # "unexpected EOF", and once in discovery to decide whether to also match the